Earth Moon missions first - last. How many dead Russians on the moon?

I really want to know. It seems as though there were at least a few moon missions launched from from the USSR. Conveniently, there is no more information regarding the cosmonauts success or lack of it. This would lead credence not only to the fact that space travel is inherently dangerous, but that drive and auxiallary systems need vast improvements.
OK, probably no arguments there. So, what's up with crashing blobs of metal into comets at 350 million and wasted foam fixups to the tune of 1,000 million. This cash might have made a good starting fund for the search for the reclusive Unobtainum to build our next spacecraft drive systems.

BTW I am of the belief that the method used to obtain earth orbit is not the one than can be used to go anywhere useful. OK vent/rant nearly complete. Any ideas on the dessicated corpses forever on the moon?

Whoa, calm down there buddy!

The Russians never sent any men to the Moon, though they were the first to have something orbit and land on it. Different missions, of course. So there are no "dessicated corpses forever on the moon."

The Deep Impact mission was so we could learn more about the structure of comets.

I don't know what "wasted foam fixups to the tune of 1,000 million" you're talking about.

What is "Unobtainum?"

Using the same way we reach orbit we have sent probes to the inner and outer edges of the Solar System. So why isn't it useful?

I looked up "Unobtainum" and nothing credible turned up. Appearntly it is a substance/metal that is used in shock absorbers for BMWs, Porches, and sunglasses frames. It is not an element it is just a term used to describe a super strong material that was derived from science fiction. It's not a material that can be mined, only a term.

www.factspider.com...

[edit on 7/28/2005 by GoldEagle]

As others have already said. The USSR never sent anyone to the moon. They did how ever send things like rovers to the moon. Here's a list of all the things that they did: www.russianspaceweb.com...

And as it says on that link:

Although all of them flew unmanned, they tested the hardware, which was developed with the goal of landing a man on the Moon.

Why did the Soviets stop the moon mission, btw?? No glory gett sloppy-lunar seconds or something??

Unobtainum comes from the movie "The Core". It is a make believe metal that is supposed to increase in strength as pressure increases. It is also supposed to convert heat to electricity. Hollywood made this up for the movie so they could travel to the earths core. The one truth about the movie is that it much harder to travel to the center of the earth than it is to go into space.

Thanks

Aldarion

I don't think there are any cosmonauts on the moon, but I remember seeing a show that uncovered many deaths that were never announced to the world. This kinda tells the story
;

www.fas.org...

Originally posted by Nygdan
Why did the Soviets stop the moon mission, btw?? No glory gett sloppy-lunar seconds or something??

I don't think that was the main reason. Russia had some big plans for permanent moon settlements in the 60's, then in the mid 70's those ideas and plans were scaled back to just a short-term expedition, but something that still would have been bigger than the Apollo missions. But all those plans just fell through by the 80's sadly.

Lots of info here if you want to read in detail about there plans. www.russianspaceweb.com...

To answer one piece of your rant about spending $350 million on something that can shoot a piece of metal at high velocity through space and make contact with a speeding comet(any space experts wanna tell me how fast it was moving), sounds like an incredible missile defense system to me. Maybe that is the reason we publicized the achievement as much as NASA did that week(granted it was an amazing achievement), but as you know, NASA is a research and development branch of the military. If that thing can hit a rogue missile or maybe it can even fire the rod towards the earth. Hmm...how much did it weight? a few hundred pounds? That hitting a city would damage the city the same way a small nuke would, without the radiation.

I think PM had an issue last year showing the Navy's plans to be using rail guns on their destroyers by 2015. They will fire 300lb steel rods at xmph. The force of them landing is equal to the projectiles they were firing with explosives. They also showed the plans for a satellite with 10 rods on it that can be directed to drop them from space onto designated targets.....so I think we may be seeing the first "mission accomplished" in their research and development.

A little off topic, but I remember the satelite orbital weapon. If I recall correctly the project had the name like "God Hammer" or something similar. Anyway, it would put itself into geosynchronis (sp?) orbit over the target area and merely drop a 10ft or so Tungsten dart/rod. The sheer transfer of kinetic energy would be enough to damage a small city block or something to that effect.

Wow insta repsonse or almost. I was impressed by the thoroughness of the responses and ken of knowledge. My comments below:

Dead Russians on the moon - Probably not, but there are certainly quite a number of dead-in-flight cosmonauts. Seeing that there were almost 60 lunar involved soviet launches and that these missions were leading to a plan to plant a Lunar colony on Earths moon, just makes me wonder. BTW I did read the Oberg blit. Interesting stuff. Let's just say it might be more interesting to review microfilms of Pravda front pages for proof rather than rely on anything else.
Verdict- dropped. wrong forum anyway. conspiracy theories are over there--->

Unobtainium:
Yes I did see The Core. Fun but really silly. Similar thinking goes to a joke overheard at a Boeing lunchroom chat between two design engineers. "If we don't get 100 tons of Unobtainium soon, we'll never get anything to Mars." What with the junking of the STS they might be right.

Cometary interceptions and SDI: Not of interest since a planet was discovered orbiting 3 suns. Golly gee! What will they find next out there.

PS: Probably a good thing I didn't go fora Masters in Astrophysics. Would have starved or frozen to daeth at Kitt's Peak while "Billions and Billions" Carl Sagan ate caviar in the spa. OMG I am old Don't drink, smoke, there's almost no hope.

the USSR though that its scientifically impossible to go to the moon but after they are the 1st people in space then the amercains became the first people to reach it. Weird

unobtanium
un obtain ium
like a left hannded hammer
or a bucket of steam
or a short weight
or the heavey water
lol

Originally posted by eazy_mas
the USSR though that its scientifically impossible to go to the moon but after they are the 1st people in space then the amercains became the first people to reach it. Weird

I think the radiation was probably their main obstical, and To be honest, im still trying to work out how America got around this one

I mean c'mon, we haven't even sent a man into anything but a sub-orbit since the supposid 'apollo' missions, and bush sets our next moon landing for 2018.. hahaha.. its a joke or something..

Van Allen, the guy for who the radiation belt was named for, even came out and SAID that it was not nearly as strong as everyone thought it was. The rotation of the ships would help protect the astronauts. One of the main reasons Russia wanted to get to the moon was to beat the US, and once the US got there they lost much of their interest.

I'm trying not to necro this thread but it seems abundantly clear to me now. The Russian political structure was all gung ho to beat the Americans to the moon regardless of the risks. Then a change is the political situation meant there was no money for such an undertaking. Poof, no manned missions to the moon. I guess you just need to follow the money to see why things happen. Then, there was a top rocket scientist and there was no one to pick up the pieces. Lack of funding and loss of of a critical rocket scientist killed the moon missions, especially when the U.S. landed on the moon first.

The lack of basic knowledge on here is fertile ground for conspiracies to grow.

Probably not, but there are certainly quite a number of dead-in-flight cosmonauts. Seeing that there were almost 60 lunar involved soviet launches and that these missions were leading to a plan to plant a Lunar colony on Earths moon, just makes me wonder.

Not even close.
The Russians lost one crew on re entry. A valve leaked and when ground crews opened the hatch they found three dead cosmonauts.

I think the radiation was probably their main obstical, and To be honest, im still trying to work out how America got around this one

There are three sources of radiation to fear as an astronaut.
1. The Van Allen belt. But since we pass through it at high speed (once at launch and once at re entry) the total dose is very small.
2. Solar radiation. Normal sunlight (radiation) is no more of a problem up there as it is down here.
Solar flares are totally different. Apollo took their chances on a flare occurring during their missions. None happened in the direction of the Earth/Moon during any Apollo mission.
3. Cosmic rays. They pass through anything. The astronauts were exposed to cosmic rays and the dosage is cumulative over a lifetime.

Please learn your basic facts before you get sucked into a conspiracy black hole.

originally posted by: SeadrakeSimilar thinking goes to a joke overheard at a Boeing lunchroom chat between two design engineers. "If we don't get 100 tons of Unobtainium soon, we'll never get anything to Mars." What with the junking of the STS they might be right.

You do realize the junking of the STS was so that we could have funds to possibly go to Mars right? Because you know NASA's tiny budget wasn't going to support both an expensive space taxi AND a deep space human spaceflight system.

There's another old joke I heard: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

I do think that the USSR did try a moon landing first but they failed and they would not let the public know, especially at that time when the "cold war" was on.

originally posted by: Ares95PL
I do think that the USSR did try a moon landing first but they failed and they would not let the public know, especially at that time when the "cold war" was on.

What makes you think that? I suggest you read 'Challenge to Apollo', a NASA History Office book by Asif Siddiqi, it's a free download.